RE: Appeal to authority
February 13, 2019 at 9:05 am
(This post was last modified: February 13, 2019 at 9:11 am by Belacqua.)
(February 13, 2019 at 8:30 am)Brian37 Wrote: The ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks also had religious leaders, and again, appeal to their authority would also be a fallacy.
But when it comes to facts like evolution and big bang, appealing to the long term observations that confirm those facts, that is not a fallacy.
If trusting in authority is sometimes OK and sometimes not, then trusting in authority is not a logical fallacy.
It may well be a mistake to trust certain people, but it's not a fallacy.
Strictly speaking, the statement "Einstein said it therefore it's true" is a logical fallacy. The statement "Einstein said it therefore I have confidence in it" is not. As I said before, the practical problem comes when we decide whose statements we have confidence in. "Donald Trump said it therefore I have confidence in it" is not a logical fallacy, but it is a mistake.
